Need help with XEGS Games list.

[DracIsBack]

Fascinating. Exactly what audience was this one targeting? I cannot believe that the cart release of FS2 was so impressive that Atari deemed another complicated flying simulator to be a priority release...

 

Those games seemed to keep coming out on Atari systems in the second half of the 1980s. And honestly, I hated them

 

Flight Simulator II, Super Huey, Ace Of Aces, Tomcat: The F-14 Fighter Simulator, F18 Hornet etc etc etc

 

They looked cool in many cases, but so complicated to play. I remember an XEGS ad Atari had with a little kid so excited to play Flight Simulator II and thought "As If"?!!!

[+davidcalgary29]

How so?

 

I never understood the complete hate for the 7800 game personally. I can think of far worse games Atari put out.

 

Terrible controls + PainLine + “funky chicken” splash screen = personal nightmare. Plus, it wasn’t Arkanoid. But, of course!, YMMV, and it’s nice to see that someone likes this turkey.

[+MrFish]

- Mean 18 - Pretty awful - the redraw is terrible.

 

Yeah, pretty bad, but it wasn't release software, and Fandal did do a version with decent improvement to the redraw (although he turned the gopher green for NTSC users and put some weird music on the title screen).

 

The game seemed unfinished graphically too. At the end of the day, Leader Board is more than good enough on the 8-bits.

[DracIsBack]

Terrible controls + PainLine + funky chicken splash screen = personal nightmare. Plus, it wasnt Arkanoid. But, of course!, YMMV, and its nice to see that someone likes this turkey.

I dont know about heavy like vs I didnt get the extreme hate. Id take it any day of the week over Fight Night, Touchdown Football, Karareka, Meltdown, the Flight Simulators etc

 

I didnt find the controls bad, I played with the joypad and the title screen had speech

[Schitti]

ok, i have now added the XEGS Titles to the database.

 

According to the current state of things, we would have 38 entries.

Both official and never released titles.

I would be glad if you take the time to look over it, if i have missed something, or can leave it that way.

http://www.atariboxed.com/index.php?go=output&dir=DESC&rows_per_page=50&select_system=4

Any help with hints for possible corrections are welcome.

 

[+MrFish]

You forgot the Demo cartridge.

[Schitti]

You forgot the Demo cartridge.

 

Thanks for the info.

 

It is now added to the database.

http://www.atariboxed.com/index.php?go=output&dir=DESC&rows_per_page=50&select_system=4

The first bunch of Box and cart Scans are now uploaded.

 

More will follow in the next few days.

[Schitti]

Is there a reason why same Titles were produced in Hong Kong and in Taiwan?

for example both pics are from different Fight Night boxes

 

 

[+CharlieChaplin]

Well, the pcb's of the Taiwan XE/XEGS carts are compatible to the older 800/XL style carts, meaning you can put a Taiwan pcb into an 800/XL cart shell or vice-versa. Alas, the Taiwan cart shells do have noses that break easily (or should I say were made to break easily by Atari/Tramiel intentionally)... and there is no screw anywhere.

 

The Hong Kong cart pcb does not fit into any other cart shell afaik, they do have a screw (under the label!) and a big nose/grip/handle on the backside.

 

Another thing I found out with my XL PAL computers is that the Hong Kong carts work immediately when I put them into the cart slot, whereas I have to put the Taiwan carts 2-3 times into the cart slot for them to work (think the pins of the Taiwan cart are a few mm shorter). Someone also told me, the Hong Kong and Taiwan carts do have different timings, but I do not know if this is true or just a legend...

 

Now, as a collector try to find Archon in a Hong Kong cart ! Archon is not rare at all, but in the last 30 years I never found that game inside a Hong Kong cart (and I tried to get as many XE/XEGS carts as Hong Kong type versions as possible).

 

Maybe we could do a best of both worlds, e.g. use the pcb's of the Taiwan cart (with slighly longer pins), but make a shell that uses one (or more) screw(s) on the backside to open/close the cartridge ?!?

 

Think Atari had a plant in Taiwan and another one in Hong Kong, but why they produced two different type of XE/XEGS carts (pcb's and shells) is beyond me...

[Schitti]

Well, the pcb's of the Taiwan XE/XEGS carts are compatible to the older 800/XL style carts, meaning you can put a Taiwan pcb into an 800/XL cart shell or vice-versa. Alas, the Taiwan cart shells do have noses that break easily (or should I say were made to break easily by Atari/Tramiel intentionally)... and there is no screw anywhere.

 

The Hong Kong cart pcb does not fit into any other cart shell afaik, they do have a screw (under the label!) and a big nose/grip/handle on the backside.

 

Another thing I found out with my XL PAL computers is that the Hong Kong carts work immediately when I put them into the cart slot, whereas I have to put the Taiwan carts 2-3 times into the cart slot for them to work (think the pins of the Taiwan cart are a few mm shorter). Someone also told me, the Hong Kong and Taiwan carts do have different timings, but I do not know if this is true or just a legend...

 

Now, as a collector try to find Archon in a Hong Kong cart ! Archon is not rare at all, but in the last 30 years I never found that game inside a Hong Kong cart (and I tried to get as many XE/XEGS carts as Hong Kong type versions as possible).

 

Maybe we could do a best of both worlds, e.g. use the pcb's of the Taiwan cart (with slighly longer pins), but make a shell that uses one (or more) screw(s) on the backside to open/close the cartridge ?!?

 

Think Atari had a plant in Taiwan and another one in Hong Kong, but why they produced two different type of XE/XEGS carts (pcb's and shells) is beyond me...

 

Thank you for your explanation. That brings some light into the darkness.

 

Was Eastern Front in the blue xegs box only released with in the old stock black cartshells and a new blue label on it? Or was there another run with newer cartshells too?

 

 

btw: today i have uploaded some more cart and boxscans.

[+kheller2]

 

The Hong Kong cart pcb does not fit into any other cart shell afaik, they do have a screw (under the label!) and a big nose/grip/handle on the backside.

 

 

Are the HK shells the ones with rounded sides and the shark nose indented pull grip on the back? I don't have a single one of those style cart cases in my collection.

[Fred_M]

 

 

Was Eastern Front in the blue xegs box only released with in the old stock black cartshells and a new blue label on it? Or was there another run with newer cartshells too?

 

 

Eastern Front was also released in a blue XEGS box, besides the silver box with yellow "compatible with..." sticker. I don't know about the cartridges, I have only seen the "black/brown" cart with blue label for the XEGS. More info here: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/92108-eastern-front-xe-cartridge-version/

[Schitti]

Does a official GameBox for Bug Hunt and Flight Simulator II exist, or were both games only loose available as a add-on?

 

How about a Box for the Demo Cartridge?

[Fred_M]

Bug Hunt and FS II titles were add-ons, no official boxes exist. There is also no official box for the demo cartridge.

[Lord Thag]

Just curious. Are you including the XE/XEGS style gray carts of older software in the list? I have several games with the Atari silver labels in the gray XE style cases.

[Schitti]

hmm, good question.
I have not thought about it yet.
But if i would, how would it fit into the "XEGS" Series.

Sure, that would be the smallest problem to add the titles. How many titles are we talking about here?

 

...but is there a need in the community for such a List?

I think there are other websites with this topic better positioned.

 

What would come after the gray carts?
The systems in the database have been added in terms of "Atari Consoles".

 

Feedback welcome.

[+MrFish]

The XEGS is in a unique position in the category of "consoles".

The whole back-library for the 8-bit computers belongs to it,

really, and vice versa.

[Atari030]

The silver carts were XE era (pre XEGS), I suppose if you were going to go nuts on the back catalogue, you'd do every cart ever made. That would be pretty daunting.

 

Pretty sure I have Loderunner and Rescue on Fractulas (that one usually sits on my desk for quick action). Do you need pics? I'm not sure if I have the boxes, though.

[Lord Thag]

Since no one has done a full list, might be good to at least start one, even if it takes awhile to fill out all the corners. I myself have Ms. Pac Man, Donkey kong Jr, Pole Position and Football loose in the gray, XE cart style.

 

Would be cool to have a complete list.

[Atari030]

Atari specific? Or aftermarket inclusive? I have Final Legacy in grey, off the top of my head.

[+MrFish]

The silver carts were XE era (pre XEGS), I suppose if you were going to go nuts on the back catalogue, you'd do every cart ever made. That would be pretty daunting.

 

Daunting would be to try and include all the disk and cassette games. But truthfully, even they all belong

to the XEGS.

 

The cartridge libray for the 8-bits is quite manageable, really, as long as you stick to commercially

released games and prototype games. But then I suppose there are those that would argue for the

complete library. It's certainly more manageable than the 2600 library.

 

I don't know what the official numbers are for game cartridges for the system (most likely some

debate on that); but I have about 450 game ROM's on file, which I know is in the ballpark of the

limits. So, I doubt it's much above 500 (if even that much), which is far less than the 2600 library.

 

Anyway, I suppose there's no real need for it with places like Atarimania covering things so well. I just

brought it up because he mentioned the XEGS being added in the context of consoles; but it's not so

simple to define the XEGS like that.

Edited April 18, 2018 by MrFish

[Schitti]

Thanks for all your replies so far.

 

I still have some more boxed XE style carts in these silver boxes at home. If I have idle times, then I may add them too. just for fun.

From about how many silver boxes are we talking in total?

 

My accessibility in this collection area is very limited as i am more at home in the Atari 2600 section.

 

Also thanks for the scan offers.

I scanned and uploaded today my last available boxes and carts from the xegs series.

There are only a few gaps left. Please take a look at the link below. I would be glad if someone can send me some scans to close them.

http://www.atariboxed.com/index.php?go=output&dir=DESC&rows_per_page=50&select_system=4

 

btw: Do all xegs protos just have a weird label in different colors on the cart? (see Tower Toppler in the List)

Edited April 18, 2018 by Schitti

[Atari030]

I got a bit funky with Photoshop. Not the real deal. I hadn't heard of Xenophobe before, it looks pretty cool and there are versions for nearly all the Atari's I own. I figured it needed a front box.

 

 

[+MrFish]

I almost forgot. There is the Bruce Lee cart from Best Electronics. There's some debate among

a few people as to whether this is legit or not. I've seen no proof that it isn't legit, though, and

most collectors are interested in obtaining the cart for their collection.

 

Here's the excerpt about it from Best Electronic's site:

 

Atari Bruce Lee Prototype 8 bit Atari XE Cartridge

These Atari Bruce Lee Prototype Cartridges were found in a Large box that came right out of the Old Atari Lombard, Illinois Warehouse as they were shutting it down!

These Atari XE series Unreleased Prototype Game cartridges did not have labels on them when they were found. The label you see is a high quality Digital picture of the 1st boot up screen on the Prototype Bruce Lee Cartridge.

This Atari Prototype 8 Bit Cartridge is programmed on the Atari XE series of Bank Selecting Game cartridges, where the Atari Programmer's could get a whole 5 1/4 Disk based game and more on one XE Bank Selecting Atari Game Cartridge. It will run on All Atari 8 bit computers with more than 32K of memory!

[+MrFish]

I have these, which I believe were posted by AA user tjlazer.

 

 

 

 

Any XE prototype label is going to be fictitious though.

 

I like what the XE cart page here did with protos: AEX - Atari XE Cartridges

They just took the demo cartridge label and applied the name of each proto.

It looks pretty cool and separates out all the protos from the release carts

nicely.

 

You can also look here and see some labels that have been made by resellers

and users (look right below the XE cart section): Pitfall Jones - 8-bit Cartridges